I worked at the Perth Observatory (POBS) 1980s and for a short period in the mid 1990s. While at the Observatory I spent my early years on the Meridian telescope, then on the Lowell telescope and a little time on the Astrographic telescope. When I became a professional astronomer, I took over the University of Western Australia (UWA) 16-inch telescope which had been unused for many years and worked in the field of double stars.
I was part of the team that produced the Perth 83 meridian catalogue and my claim to fame on the Lowell was the discovery of spiral arm CN jets in Comet Halley which adorned the front page of ‘Nature’.
I have a BSc in Physics and a PhD in Astronomy-History, as well as an internal MBA from a leading Australian conglomerate.
After leaving the Observatory I worked in Information Technology, then Information Management (IT, Library, Records) both in Government and in the Private Sector. Later I moved into Senior Management and Consultancy (Business Management, Project and Risk Management and Disaster Recovery) until professional retirement in 2015. After this, being a life member of the local bushfire brigade, I worked in local Government for the City’s of Kalamunda and Rockingham assisting them in bushfire risk and management.
The Government of the day closed the Perth Observatory “…for research by public servants…” in 2014, however the governing body granted me the title of the Honorary Historian to the Perth Observatory in 2012 while I competed my PhD on the scientific history of the Observatory. I have also assisted the volunteers that took over the outreach activities of the Observatory in interpreting historical files and artefacts in the Heritage group, I led a team of volunteers that scanned 22,000 plus photographic glass plate and have assisted the volunteer Librarian/Archivist and assistant in preserving the Observatory’s historical paper-based files; I was also Research Director for a while.
My likes are Opera, Classical, Rock and House music, gardening, collecting old astronomy books, wine, single malt whisky, traveling, wine, single malt whisky and food…..I did mention single malt whiskey and wine didn’t I?
Astronomy West 